site.btaUPDATED Constitutional Court in Skopje to Look into Constitutionality of Language Use Law after Hearing Experts

The Constitutional Court of the Republic of North Macedonia decided Wednesday to hold a preliminary meeting on applications regarding the Language Use Law before ruling on its constitutionality, local media reported. The purpose of the meeting is "to clarify the factual and legal situation of individual cases". The Court is expected to invite to this meeting professional bodies and organizations, researchers and experts in areas determined by the court.

Wednesday's session generated tension in North Macedonia and sparked a lot of comments from political parties and analysts. Earlier this week, members of the Democratic Union for Integration, the largest ethnic Albanian political party in North Macedonia, stood "language guard" in front of the Constitutional Court building. There was an increased police presence in the centre of Skopje, as leaders of the European Front, a political alliance in North Macedonia led by the Democratic Union for Integration, joined the guard.

Two judges of Albanian origin, Osman Kadriu and Naser Ajdini, boycotted the session, as they had announced they would. With the court incomplete, Justice Fatmir Skender made a motion to withdraw this item from the agenda and left the session, when the motion did not pass.

Five of the six judges who remained at the Constitutional Court session backed the decision to hold a preparatory session. Only Justice Dobrila Katsarska proposed that the initiative to determine the constitutionality of the Language Use Law be held after the summary of the judge-rapporteur is ready.

Before and during the hearing, European Front leaders, MPs, members and supporters of the Front's member parties arrived in front of the Court building. After the Court's decision was announced, Democratic Union for Integration Co-Chair Bujar Osmani said it was unacceptable for the Court to hold hearings on sensitive issues in a mono-ethnic configuration. He warned that the decision to hold a preparatory session is only a continuation of the process of repealing the Language Use Law.

Osmani said: "By their absence, the three constitutional judges from the ethnic communities have given ample indication that the session should be terminated immediately. Such mono-ethnic meetings or sessions have always been a harbinger of bad times in multi-ethnic states."

Earlier in December, North Macedonia Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski accused the Democratic Union for Integration of causing ethnic tension.

On Wednesday, the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia released a statement that condemned "the politicization and manipulation of sensitive issues that have the potential to disrupt the stability of the state and call into question coexistence".

On Tuesday, North Macedonia's President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova called on politicians to give the Constitutional Court the opportunity to rule without pressure and in accordance with the country's Constitution.